Ballot count awaited

Outcome of race for state Senate may take 2 weeks

November 8, 2012

The two candidates for state Senate in the 46th District will have to wait until at least Nov. 19 before they know who won the race.

The race between Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk and Republican George Amedore has come down to a photo finish. Tkaczyk was leading by 139 votes as of Wednesday night. The tally was 58,314 to 58,175.

However, about 9,000 absentee ballots still have to be counted, including 1,314 in Montgomery County, election officials say.

The 46th District includes several counties, including Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Board of Election Commissioner Jaime Duchessi said the absentee ballots his board has received could be counted by Tuesday.

However, some counties are allowing absentee ballots to come in as late as Nov. 19 if postmarked by Nov. 5.

Unofficially, George Amedore - who left a state Assembly seat to run for the Senate seat - leads in Montgomery, Schenectady and Greene counties, while Tkaczyk leads in Albany and Ulster counties.

"We are confident when all the votes are counted, Tkaczyk will maintain her lead and will take her seat as the next senator of the 46th Senate District," said Gary K. Ginsburg, press officer for Tkaczyk's campaign.

Amedore's campaign took legal measures Wednesday to safeguard the votes.

"This morning, we filed a show-cause order in Montgomery County Supreme Court to protect and substantiate each and every ballot," Kris Thompson, an Amedore campaign spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday. "We must institute safeguards to protect every vote in this process, which may take considerable time."